As far as I understand, last information is: that we were declined two years ago by the following reasons:

1. The currency code is not linked to any country code.2. The currency code is considered a 'private currency' and not used for tender in any country.3. There will be no international payments denominated in Bitcoin therefore an ISO currency code for the Bitcoin is not applicable.4. The Institution responsible for the Bitcoin does not appear to be recognized internationally or have any official status. Neither Reuters or Bloomberg provides market data related to its use.

Since then drastic development and improvements in Bitcoin did happen.So, answers on these reasons now:

1. It is not a problem because the same situation with gold but it has his own codes: XAU and 959.

2. Again, answer the same like for N1: gold is not used for tender in any country but it has codes.

3. There will be international payments denominated in Bitcoin.I have an answer from regional SWIFT director of one of major international bank: he says that they would be interestingto implement Bitcoin in SWIFT messages if it would have it's own ISO currency code.

4. In August this year Bloomberg started Bitcoin ticker with temporary code XBT in their internal terminals.

Who did submit the request and who should resubmit it now?Probably Bitcoin Foundation?

After positively challenging all four points, this is what I got back, unfortunately:

Quote

The EUR is linked to a country code (EU), Bitcoin is not.The Bitcoin is a private currency, because there is no governmental institution or monetary authority supporting it. The point in case is not whether a currency is public or not (Facebook Credits are also public but would not get an ISO code either).Finally, Bitcoin may not be denominated in any other currency.

We are therefore obliged to definitely decline your request.

Perhaps when Bitcoins are more mature and the market has grown, I hope they will pick it up by themselves.

X is allocated for all types of currency (and some commodities) that do not belong to one specific country. XBC is already taken, so XBT would make the most sense.

So, everyone please stop using BTC and start using XBT.

For clarification, the first two letters are the country code: US(D), EU(R), GB(P), BR(L), except for currencies/commodities that are not specific to one country, they use only one letter, specifically the X, and no country can ever start with X.

X is allocated for all types of currency (and some commodities) that do not belong to one specific country. XBC is already taken, so XBT would make the most sense.

So, everyone please stop using BTC and start using XBT.

For clarification, the first two letters are the country code: US(D), EU(R), GB(P), BR(L), except for currencies/commodities that are not specific to one country, they use only one letter, specifically the X, and no country can ever start with X.

X represents the Bitcoin cause very well, because it is international. Similar global currencies include XAU (gold), XAG (silver), XDR (international special drawing rights), etc. The letter is familiar to many in the financial community as an international token of value.

I have copy pasted the subject and sent the mail to office@currency-iso.org. But personally I believe that it would have been better to launch an online petition to the ISO. If we could gather like 100,000 verified signatures, then they won't be able to ignore us.